Floral induction in Brachypodium distachyon

Brachypodium distachyon (L.) P. Beauv. is a recently fully-sequenced monocot plant, very closely related to wheat and barley, and an attractive model system to study the biology of temperate cereals. The present work investigates the “mechanisms” of flowering time in Brachypodium (community standard line Bd21) by analyzing a group of core genes, mostly transcription factors, generally known to be functionally involved in the determination of the shoot apical meristem’s reproductive fate. Its major aims were the identification of the related Bd21 homologues, and the examination of their functional conservation within the photoperiod inductive pathway, in order to determine the basic framework for flowering transition in temperate grasses. The experimental procedures included quantitative real time PCR, whole transcriptome microarray hybridization, constitutive gene expression, gene silencing via artificial microRNA expression, transcript immuno localization, protein immuno-detection, and reporter studies. From these experiments, it was determined that while some genes remain functionally conserved among different plant systems, other signal integrators, thought to play an essential role as meristem identity genes, are not. From the characterization of the transitioning shoot apical meristem’s transcriptome, it was possible to identify the network of biological processes and the underlying genetic mediators that, in Bd21, coordinate this highly complex developmental switch. Overall, the experimental work that is presented examines some of the rudiments of the floral induction in Brachypodium distachyon and, hopefully, will constitute a modest, yet relevant, contribution to the plant research community, on the reproductive development of temperate monocots.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

other

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of East Anglia

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Alves, Silvia

Language dc:language

en